BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) -- Thousands of women have left the Central
Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan to work in prostitution abroad, many against
their will and suffering abuse, according to a study released this week.
The study by the International Organization for Migration showed that
some of the women who left were tricked by false promises of jobs as
dancers or waitresses abroad.
Instead, they ended up in brothels in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey
and other countries, their passports taken away and their controllers
demanding that they work off their travel expenses, the study found.
The study was based in part on interviews with 100 women and girls in
1999. Sixty-two of them said they had been forced to work without pay at
some time. The study also reported incidents of physical abuse against
prostitutes.
The study found 13 tourist firms in Kyrgyzstan that had supplied
documents or made arrangements for women leaving to work in prostitution.
Other businesses cooperated in the trade, including newspapers that
published false advertisements for attractive-sounding jobs overseas.
In all, about 4,000 women left Kyrgyzstan in 1999 to work as prostitutes
abroad, the IOM said.
Prostitution has flourished in many former Soviet republics as a result
of poverty and the spread of organized crime, and women from the former
Soviet Union work as prostitutes in Europe, Asia and North America.
(str/ak/ji)
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